This oat chilla with veggies and spices is hands-down the best way to enjoy chilla (savory pancakes) for breakfast. Add a side of chutney for dipping and you’ve got a healthy breakfast in 20 minutes!
1tablespoonCilantro or coriander leavesfinely chopped
2-3tablespoonsRed onionfinely chopped
2-3tablespoonsCarrotsgrated
2-3tablespoonsTomatochopped
2-3tablespoonsCapsicum (Green bell pepper)finely chopped
½cupWater
Oil- as needed for frying the cheela
Instructions
Take coarsely ground oats and besan in a bowl and mix.
Add salt, red chili powder, turmeric powder and ajwain. Stir well.
Add ginger paste, chopped green chili, cilantro and veggies (onion, tomato, carrot, bell pepper). Mix everything.
Start adding little water and keep mixing to make a smooth, lump-free batter. The consistency of the batter should be like dosa batter (aka spreading consistency).
Heat the pan or skillet on medium heat. Drizzle or spread little oil in the pan. Pour two ladleful of the batter in the center and spread it evenly to make a medium thick round shaped chilla.
Cook on the medium-low flame until the base has a few golden brown spots, is slightly crispy and the top begins to look cooked. Now drizzle some oil on top.
Flip it and cook the other side until golden brown. Do press with spatula lightly a few times to cook faster and make it slightly crispy.
Once it is cooked from both sides remove oy from the pan and serve. Repeat the same for the rest of the batter.
Notes
Use coarsely ground oats to get the best texture of oats chilla. Finely ground oats make the batter sticky and chilla comes out dense.
Chop the veggies finely or grate them so they get cooked faster along with chilla.
To make the batter, you can use plain chaas (Indian buttermilk) instead of water.
To make it super fluffy, add ¼ teaspoon of baking soda to the batter.
I prefer to use a cast iron pan to make oast chilla.
Veggie options:
Do not skip onion, tomato, ginger and cilantro. These add a base flavor and play around with the rest veggies.
You can add grated beet, bottle gourd, zucchini, carrot, cauliflower. You can add finely chopped cabbage, colored peppers, spring onion, etc.
Green chilies are optional. I would skip it if making for little kids or toddlers.